Email Us Forum Mail Article Print Article

Michael Slater Retires

Thursday, June 10 2004

A chronic arthritic condition has forced the cricketing career of former Australian opening batsman Michael Slater to a premature end as the 34-year-old announced his retirement today.

Slater missed the majority of the 2003/04 domestic season for New South Wales following the flaring of a debilitating arthritic condition known as ankylosing spondylitis in the early stages of the summer. At times, he was unable to walk, while at others he moved with relative freedom. During this time his media work blossomed, opening the avenue that he will now take after cricket.

Yet the battle with the injury forced the batsman - famous for his happy-go-lucky style at the crease - into deep assessment on his playing future before announcing that it would be irresponsible for him to sign another contract with New South Wales on the grounds of his fitness.

Hailing from the New South Wales country town of Wagga Wagga, Slater was the dynamic force in Australia's most successful Test opening partnership alongside fellow Wagga stable mate Mark Taylor.

Just as Slater could turn a match, however, it seemed his international career faded in the blink of an eyelid. Dropped after the fourth Ashes Test in 2001 he was never able to recapture his form following an untimely marriage breakdown.

Earlier, he had fought his way back into the Test side following an 18-month exodus after an ill-fated one-off Test in India. Initially he struggled for form, yet eventually runs came at a typically Slater-like rate that selectors could no longer ignore his claims, almost accepting the odd brain explosion.

He briefly returned to his best towards the end of the 2002/03 domestic summer in slamming a double hundred in a Pura Cup match before adding an enthralling 100 against Queensland in his sides successful final cause of that season. He played just another 3 matches.

Strangely enough, he struggled for runs in the one-day game. In his 42 matches his best return amounted to 73 (on debut) as his average hovered around 24. For such a natural aggressor, perhaps he became to obsessed in the quest for quick runs, changing his natural game plan that saw him as a dasher in the Test arena.

In one of his final domestic one-day matches, however, he gave a glimpse of what may have been in smashing a crisp 115 against the touring English ODI squad.

The way in which he opened the batting in Test matches, however, will be his lasting memory. He was known for opening a Test series with a boundary - thus setting the Australian tone for the entire series. Despite his 14 Test hundreds he was dismissed in the nineties on an imposing 9 occasions, perhaps testament to his dangerous lapses in concentration and occasionally impulsive stroke play.

Even from day one, that was how Slater played the game. In only his 3rd Test match - his first at Lords' - he stamped himself as an exciting prospect with a rapid maiden Test hundred.

Stand and deliver against some of the world's strongest attacks, he as much as any proved a catalyst for the aggressive brand of Test cricket that is now commonplace within the Australian squad. As a crash and burn type cricketer, he played with his heart on his sleeve - often to the extent where his emotions would boil, circa India 2001.

His destructive nature with the bat, however, left room for implosion. It seemed likely that his exit from Test cricket wasn't going to be pretty, and thus it proved this way.

For the influence he had over the game and fans, however, Michael Jonathon Slater deserved a better finish to an enigmatic career than a tearful press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Posted by Andre